Today’s letters to The Courier.
Sir, – Your article on the cost to the taxpayer of supporting the monarchy (Tuesday, July 7) is factually incorrect.
The figures for the Queen’s official expenditure, Civil List funding and other expenses incurred by the royal family may well have been copied correctly from the palace accounts. However, one very important fact was omitted.
The Queen’s expenses are indeed met from public funds but, in return, she gives up her income from the Crown Estate land that belongs to the monarchy, not the government.
The accounts for 2010/11 show that the government collected about £210 million of income from the Crown Estate. The Queen’s official expenditure for that year was £32.1 million, as reported in your article.
The ”cost to the taxpayer” for that year was therefore a net gain of around £178 million. Taxpayers feel the pinch, not from the royal family’s expenditure, but from the profligacy of government.
The sums quoted above, though seemingly astronomical to the average individual, are paltry in terms of government expenditure.
Thanks to the incompetence of the last government and the current one, a budget surplus at the turn of the century has been turned into a £1 trillion debt.
This amounts to, not 52p per person, but more than then ten thousand times that sum per person.
Under the new scheme, in the financial year 2013/14, the Queen will be allowed to keep 15% of the income from the Crown Estate. The government will receive the remaining 85%.
The way things are going we will all soon be doing that, one way or another.
Alexander Cumming.The Coach House,Abernyte.
So will we now get the detail?
Sir, – Stephen Windsor has hit the nail right on the head when he calls for facts and not myths in the debate about Scottish independence (July 4).
Will he, or the SNP or Alex Salmond, now roll out their detailed policies on defence, the nuclear deterrent, NATO, employment, the economy, the welfare state, the currency and membership of the EU in an independent Scotland?
It will be an enlightening change from the current Saltire-waving, tartan-wearing and patronising flying visits from Sean Connery et al who, unlike Mr Windsor and myself, are so patriotic that they won’t live in the country they so fervently wish to become independent.
The Scottish people will then be able to compare and contrast the areas of unionism and independence which affect them most directly.
Incidentally, the ”no comment” position of the European president is neither an endorsement nor a rejection of Scotland’s application to join the EU, but it should be pointed out that, as things stand, two of the conditions for accession are that the applicant nation adopt the common currency and that its application be approved by all the member states some of whom, Spain in particular, might see such a move as giving encouragement to the their own independence movements.
George Dobbie.51 Airlie Street,Alyth.
War’s duration was unclear
Sir, – I would question Dr John Cameron’s view that Dresden was a non-industrial city and the war clearly won (Letters, July 3).
In his definitive account ”Dresden, Tuesday 13 February, 1945”, Frederick Taylor clarifies that it was a Nazi stronghold, administrative capital (still transferring Jews to death camps), vital transport hub, and with critical military manufacturing facilities not merely porcelain shepherdesses.
In early 1945 Hitler unleashed his V1 and V2 missiles against London and Antwerp and we had no real idea of his potential nuclear weapons progress.
The outcome was fairly clear, but the war was not yet won and its remaining duration certainly unknown.
Finally, by helping to end the war by early May, the bombing possibly prevented the Soviets (ironically our allies, though equal to their German Nazi brethren) from reaching not merely Berlin, but much further west, resulting in the Stalinist nightmare encompassing millions more and enduring far longer than it actually did.
John Birkett.12 Horseleys Park,St Andrews.
More thorough vetting needed
Sir, – Another three British soldiers have been killed by Afghan police supposedly working with the NATO forces to bring peace to their troubled land.
How can more such tragic incidents be avoided? The Americans have reportedly succeeded in reducing casualties from such causes by allocating one soldier with weapon always at the ready to stand aside from each group of Americans and Afghan police or soldiers under training to watch the Afghans carefully in case one is a Taliban infiltrator waiting for a chance to kill Americans.
We could adopt that safeguard, but more effective would be a more thorough vetting of Afghan army and police recruits.
Perhaps no applicant should be accepted unless he had a backer from the Afghan community who would be required to pay NATO authorities a substantial sum of money as a guarantee of the recruit’s loyalty.
George K McMillan.5 Mount Tabor Avenue,Perth.
Badly timed trimming
Sir, – Having enjoyed many walks recently along the footpath running by Balmossie from the Esplanade to Monifieith I was disappointed to see that Angus Council has decided that this is a suitable time to trim back the area of thick bramble and gorse that runs alongside the railway. I am sure that birds that are still nesting in this area must have been disturbed.
The brambles were also in full flower and were being enjoyed by a profusion of bees and were surely an asset for the rest of the year ahead, both as a continued source of nectar and then as a source of food in the winter months.
Given the growth in awareness of planting for wildlife I would be interested to learn why this work was not done at the beginning of the year prior to the nesting and growing season.
Robert Crosbie.6 Caenlochan Road,Broughty Ferry.
Get involved: to have your say on these or any other topics, email your letter to letters@thecourier.co.uk or send to Letters Editor, The Courier, 80 Kingsway East, Dundee DD4 8SL. Letters should be accompanied by an address and a daytime telephone number.